Local Sports

As Riverside Area Youth Soccer League grows, so too does it’s training staff. After adding Doug Miller to the Club in the Fall 2015 season, RAYSL recently added alum Cortney Harden as a Technical Trainer. “Bringing Cortney on is very exciting for us,” Club President Derek Zona said. “Over the past year, our Board has been focused on finding a skilled female trainer who can make a positive impact on the lives of the young ladies in the club, acting as both a mentor and a role model.” Harden’s immediate focus will be Riverside’s U12 and U14 girls’ teams. She…

Ellwood City’s Taylor Petrak earned a silver and bronze at the PIAA swimming championship at Bucknell University over the weekend. Petrak, a junior, claimed second in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.19 seconds, a .14 improvement from her WPIAL performance. In the 100-yard freestyle, Petrak finished in 50.70 seconds, .37 seconds slower than her WPIAL performance. Prior to the state championship, Petrak said her primary goal was to improve her times. With the USA YMCA Nationals approaching in April, she’s shooting for times of 22.89 and 49.89. As a sophomore, Petrak won the 50 and placed second in…

Ellwood City Monday 3:45PM S Softball at North Catholic Tuesday No Events Wednesday 3:30PM Boys Tennis at Neshannock Thursday 4:30PM Baseball Laurel Home 5:00PM Softball Freedom Home Saturday 1:00PM: Baseball Moon Home Riverside Monday, March 21 3:30PM Boys Varsity Tennis Ellwood City HS Away Tuesday, March 22 4:00PM Boys and Girls Varsity Track Wilmington Area Senior High Sch Away Wednesday, March 23 3:30 PM Boys Varsity Tennis Postponed- Beaver Area High School Home 4:00 PM Boys Varsity Baseball Union Area MS/HS Home Thursday, March 24 11:00 AM Boys and Girls Varsity Track WILMINGTON RELAYS Away 4:00PM Boys Varsity Baseball Western…

As a sophomore, Ellwood City’s Taylor Petrak did what few other Ellwood athletes ever accomplished: win a PIAA individual championship. Petrak, a swimmer from a school with no team and no pool, claimed the gold in the 50-yard freestyle and the silver in the 100-yard freestyle. As a junior, she’s returning to the PIAA at Bucknell University as a defending state champion. Two weeks ago, she won the WPIAL 50-yard with a time of 23.33 seconds and placed second in the 100-yard with a time of 50.33 seconds. In both races, she beat her PIAA times from last year. Between…

Spring sports season has officially started but for an elite few, winter sports goes on. At the WPIAL swimming competition last Thursday and Friday at the University of Pittsburgh, four Riverside girls and one boy qualified for the PIAA next week. The girls claimed one win in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:40.53. The team consists of junior Erica King, junior Alana Nulph, freshman Meghan Rosendale and senior Kelly Krechowski. It wasn’t an easy season. The team struggled with injuries and illnesses. Indeed, the qualifying relay team had only swam together as a unit once before. “We…

Riverside lost two playoff games on Friday and Monday against Greensburg Central Catholic and Burrell but is still in the running pending tomorrow’s game against Chartiers-Houston. Unfortunately, that run will be minus the team’s top scorer, senior Katie Stang, who averages 19 points per game. During the Greensburg game, Stang suffered a season-ending knee injury and watched the Burrell game from the sidelines on crutches. Riverside’s post-season got off to an excellent start with a comeback game against Brentwood on Feb. 18 where the Lady Panthers won 45-42 after trailing 25-15 in the first half. In Friday’s game against Greensburg,…